Kendrick Lamar.

A Name That Is Immediately Associated With Prestige And Respect. And He Has Earned Every Bit of It.

At Just 33 Years of Age, http://K.Dot  Has Already Accomplished So Much Within HipHop, That He Is Being Compared To Icons.

Let’s Take A Look At Why

One of The Ways KDot Separated Himself From His Peers Early In The Game Was His Ability To Create Ground-shaking Moments.

When We Think of The Word “Classic”, We Often Tend To Think of Just Albums. But Why Stop There?

HipHop Without Classic Moments Just Wouldn’t Be HipHop.

Before Kendrick Would Go On To Conquer The Music Industry, He Was An LA Artist With A Decent Size Buzz.

A Month After He Dropped His Critically Acclaimed Project Section 80, He Got Passed The Torch From West Coat Legends Snoop Dogg, Kurupt, Dr.Dre, Warren G, and The Game.

With A Legendary Stamp of Approval, Kendrick Was Designated As The New Leader of The West.

But Could He Keep Up With The Bloated Expectations? Or Would He Fold Under Pressure? Would He Flop? Would He Sell Out?

October 22nd, 2012.

http://K.Dot  Drops His Major Label Debut Under Dr.Dre’s AfterMath:

“Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City”

The Album Was Forged With Hard Hitting Bangers & Introspective Adolescence.

It Reintroduced Concept Albums To The Masses And Brought Back Masterful Storytelling.

While Sonically Pushing Boundaries of Vocal Experimentation

GKMC Struck The Rap Game Like A Giant Meteor Hurling At Light Speed.

This Album Turned KDot Into A Star.

It Was Immediately Deemed An Instant Classic And Kendrick Had Officially Revitalized The West Coast.

It Was Praised By Critics, Purists, & Mainstream Listeners Alike

2 Days After GKMC, A$AP Rocky Released His Single “F**ckin’ Problems” Featuring The Hottest Rappers At The Time: 2Chainz, Drake, And Of Course, Kendrick Lamar.

The Song Was A Top 10 Hit And 9+ Years Later Still Plays Frequently To This Day.

Kendrick’s Verse Is The Most Quoted..

Kendrick Was Doing Extremely Well With His Newfound Success.

He Was A Frequent Collaborator With Artists of His Generation, And Developed A Reputation of Being A Show Stopping Featured Rapper.

Fast Forward Several Months.

Big Sean Announces That A Song From His Upcoming Album “Hall of Fame” Couldn’t Make The Cut Because of Sample Clearances.

So He’d Be Dropping The Single The Next Day..

August 13th, 2013.

Perhaps The Most Viral HipHop Moment of The 2010s, Big Sean Drops His Single “Control” Featuring Kendrick Lamar & Jay Electronica.

Remember GKMC Being Like A Meteor Striking The Rap Game?

This Is Basically That All Over Again. Except Someone Actually Got Hit

While Big Sean & Jay Elec Put Up Amazing Performances, Kendrick’s Verse Stole The Show.

In His Verse, He Namedrops 11 of His Peers, And Asserts That He Is The King of New York With Ease.

This Broke The Internet & Made Every Single Spectator View Kendrick In A Different Light.

Dozens of Rappers, Both Old & New, Responded To The Verse With A Track of Their Own. Some Were Light Hearted Responses, Others Being Full On Diss Tracks.

Of Course, Not Everyone Took Being Called Out Too Kindly.

Namely This Would Mark The Beginning of Kendrick’s Feud With The Biggest Rapper In HipHop At The Time:

Drake

In Retaliation Towards Drake’s Recent Comments And Subliminal Shots, Kendrick Dropped A Cypher Verse Under BET’s Cypher That Took A Couple of Shots Back At Drake.

This Is The Most Iconic BET Cypher To Date

2 Years Later

March 15th, 2015.

Kendrick Lamar Is Still As Relevant As Ever As He Prepares To Drop His 2nd Major Label Album: To Pimp A Butterfly.

Unlike GKMC, To Pimp A Butterfly Struck Not Just The Rap Game, But The Music Game.

Unexpectedly, Kendrick Completely Reinvents Himself As An Artist, Ditching The Moody HipHop Production, & Creating A Full On Funk-Jazz Concept Album Layered With Spoken Word Poetry featuring 2PAC.

It Was Adored By Critics, Making It The Highest Scored Album In Modern Music To Date.

The Album Is Widely Considered One of The Greatest Albums of The 2010s & Is Being Studied In Colleges, Including Harvard.

The Song “Alright” Became The Battle Cry of BLM & Other Protest Groups

November 27th, 2015.

Kendrick Lamar & Fellow Rap Star J.Cole Randomly Drop A Pair of Tracks Titled “Black Friday”.

The Duo Exchange Beats From Their Previous Albums With Kendrick Rapping on “A Tale of 2 Citiez” & J.Cole Rapping on “Alright”.

This Was A Huge Moment For Rap, Seeing 2 of HipHop’s Hottest Stars Coming Together & Teasing A Collaborative Project.

However, While Both Of Their Tracks Got Praise, Kendrick’s Track Slightly Overshadowed J.Cole’s, & That’s Putting It Nicely.

The YouTube Views Speak For Itself

2016

Kendrick Delivers An Incredibly Politically Charged Grammy Performance And Stirs Up Some Controversy About Race Relations In America While Tributing Trayvon Martin.

2017

5 Days After Drake Drops His Mixtape More Life, Kendrick Drops The Heart Part IV And Immediately Crashes His Wave While KDot Teases His Upcoming Album.

In The Latest Installment of The Quadrilogy, Kendrick Takes Aim At A Few of His Peers

Namely Big Sean & Possibly Drake

Beef Was In The Air During This Time As Fans Speculate Who Kendrick Could Be Shooting At

As Well As Anticipating “April The 7th”

A Week Later Kendrick Drops His Biggest Song To Date: HUMBLE.

Which Peaked At #1 On Billboard Hot 100 & Is Now Certified Diamond.

Many Speculate The Hook Parodies Big Sean’s Most Notable Adlib “Lil Bitch”.

April 14th, 2017

Kendrick, Going By KungFu Kenny, Releases His 3rd Major Label Album:

“DAMN.”

When People Thought Kendrick Would Go Right, He Went Left.

DAMN. Is Nothing Like TPAB Nor GKMC.

DAMN. Is Kendrick Showcasing Numerous Styles of Rap & Mastering Them Like HipHop’s Avatar

It’s Virtually A Pop Album Full of Trendy Flows, Beats, & Adlibs With A Religious Narrative

DAMN. Became Lamar’s Highest Selling Album Ever, And Pushed Him Into Superstar Status Amongst Even Nonrap Fans.

The Album Sold 603K 1st Week & Was Met With Outstanding Praise Critically & Commercially.

It Made History of Being The 1st NonClassical/Jazz Album To Win The Pulitzer

2018

Kendrick Does Another Theatrical Grammy Performance.

Nothing Particularly Controversial, But Still A Big Moment For HipHop Either Way.

And That Is Pretty Much It For All The Classic Moments Involving Kendrick Up Until 2021.

He Has Been M.I.A. Since The Black Panther Soundtrack With Hits Like All The Stars, King’s Dead, Paramedic, Big Shot, And Pray For Me.

Who Knows What Classic Moments Kenny Will Create Next.

Check out the J.Cole thread https://twitter.com/frostedtakes_/status/1355344658990305282